The lobbyists who gave to Gillespie

WHO GAVE TO GILLESPIE: Virginians will go to the polls tomorrow to decide whether to send Ed Gillespie — one of the most prominent lobbyists of the George W. Bush era, when he helmed Quinn Gillespie & Associates alongside Jack Quinn, a Democrat — to the governor’s mansion. Quinn Gillespie, later rebranded as QGA Public Affairs, largely shut down earlier this year after Quinn’s departure, but Gillespie still has some friends on K Street, according to campaign finance disclosures.

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— Dozens of Washington lobbyists — many of whom live in Virginia — gave to his campaign in the past few weeks alone. They include Thomas Barker of Foley Hoag; Erika Baum of General Mills; David Bockorny of the Bockorny Group; Kirsten Chadwick of Fierce Government Relations; Patricia DeLoatche of Sidley Austin; Bilal Eksili of the Washington Strategy Group; Elizabeth Frazee of TwinLogic Strategies; Gary Gallant of Morgan Lewis; Donald Kent of the Nickles Group; Marc Lampkin of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck; Robert Livingston of the Livingston Group; Jeff MacKinnon of Farragut Partners; Daniel Mattoon of Mattoon & Associates; Ashley McGee of Comcast; Jake Menefee of Marathon Petroleum; and Mark Merritt of the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association.

— More: Dan Meyer of the Duberstein Group; Robert Nichols of the American Bankers Association; Craig Purser of the National Beer Wholesalers Association; Mark Rayder of Alston & Bird; Peter Rich of Rich Feuer Anderson; Manny Rossman of Harbinger Strategies; Stephen Sandherr of Associated General Contractors; Kyle Simmons of the Simmons & Russell Group; Todd Walker of Altria; Joel White of Horizon Government Affairs; and Robert Wood of BGR Group. Several took advantage of Virginia’s lack of contribution limits to give more than they could have if Gillespie were running for federal office. Marc Lampkin, who worked with Gillespie at QGA, gave a total of $20,000 over the course of the campaign. Dan Meyer gave $15,000, and Kyle Simmons gave $7,500.

— Plenty of other K Street types who aren’t registered lobbyists gave as well, including former Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt (now president of the American Automotive Policy Council); Joel Kaplan, Facebook’s vice president of global policy; former Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne (now president and chief executive of the American Council of Life Insurers); and Dick Wiley of Wiley Rein.

— Tomorrow: The lobbyists who gave to Gillespie's opponent: Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam.

CAPITOL HILL CONSULTING GROUP ADDS RENACCI AIDE: Surya Gunasekara is joining the Capitol Hill Consulting Group as of counsel, working on tax issues. He was previously chief of staff and tax counsel to Rep. Jim Renacci (R-Ohio), a member of the Ways and Means Committee who isn’t seeking reelection so he can run for governor next year. “With Mr. Renacci’s entry into the Ohio governor’s race, we saw an opportunity for Surya to use his varied background during this important tax reform debate,” David Jory, the firm’s president, said in a statement. Gunasekara is also a veteran of Airlines for America.

TAX REFORM UPDATE: The Senate’s tax bill, expected this week, may “try to patch up some of the fraternal squabbles that erupted when House GOP leaders unveiled their bill last week, including a revolt by the housing industry and a powerful small business association,” POLITICO’s Aaron Lorenzo reports. “‘Many of the big headline features in the House bill will be similar in the Senate bill, but there will also be quite a number of significant differences,’ said Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), a member of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee.” Full story.

PERRY’S POWER PLAN WOULD HELP BIG TRUMP BACKER: “A proposal by Energy Secretary Rick Perry to alter the nation's electricity markets would provide a windfall for a small group of companies — most strikingly one owned by coal magnate Bob Murray, a prominent backer of President Donald Trump,” POLITICO’s Darius Dixon and Eric Wolff report. “Perry's plan would force consumers to subsidize ailing coal-fired and nuclear power plants with billions of dollars, in what he calls an effort to ensure that the nation’s power network can withstand threats like terrorist attacks or severe weather.”

— “But his narrowly written proposal would mostly affect plants in a stretch of the Midwest and Northeast where Murray's mining company, Murray Energy, is the predominant supplier, according to a POLITICO analysis of Energy Department data. The company and its PAC together sent $200,000 to pro-Trump election efforts last year, while Bob Murray threw an invitation-only West Virginia fundraiser for Trump in 2016.” Full story.

GAO INVESTIGATING PRUITT APPEARANCE IN BEEF LOBBY VIDEO: “Government Accountability Office will investigate EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's appearance in an industry group's video calling for public comments in favor of repealing the Waters of the U.S. rule, according to a letter released [Friday] by House Democrats,” POLITICO’s Alex Guillén reports. “Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) asked GAO to investigate whether Pruitt's actions violated laws ‘on the use of appropriated funds for lobbying and publicity or propaganda purposes and the Antideficiency Act,’ according to the letter, dated. Oct. 31.”Full story.

NEW SITE: Cornerstone Government Affairs has revamped its website.Check it out.

MEANWHILE, IN GEORGIA: “The Georgia chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans has sent an email to its members, letting them know that it has hired ‘a professional lobbying firm’ for an upcoming session of the Legislature that is likely to be faced with the thorny question of Confederate monuments in changing communities,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Jim Galloway reports. “The email from Tim Pilgrim, the Georgia division adjutant, did not identify the lobbying firm.” Full story.

JOBS REPORT:

— Victoria Esser has rejoined the Glover Park Group as a managing director. She was previously the Treasury Department’s assistant secretary of public affairs in the Obama administration and also worked in Obama’s State Department.

— The American Hotel & Lodging Association has added Jennifer Myers as senior director of communications for government affairs. She was previously director of policy communications for the National Corn Growers Association.

— MGM Resorts International has promoted Debra DeShong to senior vice president of global corporate communications and industry affairs, based in Washington. She was previously vice president of global industry affairs. And Courtney Laydon, an editorial director at Subject Matter, is leaving D.C. to join MGM as director of corporate communications, based in Las Vegas.

About The Author

Theodoric Meyer covers lobbying for POLITICO and writes the POLITICO Influence newsletter. He previously covered the 2016 campaign for POLITICO and worked as a reporting fellow for ProPublica in New York. He was a lead reporter on ProPublica’s “After the Flood” series on the federal government’s troubled flood insurance program, which won the Deadline Club Award for Local Reporting. He’s a graduate of McGill University and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.